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Daily Archives: June 6, 2012

The Atlantic League All-Star festivities do not begin until July 10, but the Lancaster Barnstormers did not want to wait past Wednesday night to play home run derby.

Tommy Everidge and Jaime Pedroza clubbed two home runs apiece to send the Patriots to their 10th loss in the last 11 games, a 6-0 defeat at TD Bank Ballpark.

Starting pitcher Roy Merritt was pulled after allowing three runs on four hits and one walk with two strikeouts in two innings. Merritt and Derell McCall both served up two home runs.

Newcomers Joe Holden (1-for-1 with a double) and Andrew Dobies (one scoreless inning pitched) enjoyed successful debuts for the Patriots, who fell to seven games behind the first-place Barnstormers in the Atlantic League Freedom Division.

Dobies, who was an All-Star out of the bullpen for the Patriots last season, appeared in two games over the first two months of the season at Double-A in the Kansas City organization. With a low ERA and a high strikeout rate, he provides instant stability to a shaky bullpen.

Holden’s return is no surprise as he was with the team in spring training but failed his entrance physical. He underwent elbow surgery and immediately is expected to compete for a starting corner outfield position.

Goodbye: Relief pitcher Anthony Claggett, who had a 16.80 ERA in 10 2/3 innings this season, was released. The former Yankee was slotted to be either a set-up man or closer during spring training but he got off to a slow start and never looked quite right.

The low point was eight runs allowed in 2/3 of an inning May 18 at Long Island.

“For some reason he kept getting off the side of the ball,” manager Sparky Lyle said. “We told him, ‘You’re not throwing right,’ and he couldn’t correct it other to say, ‘I’m trying.’ ”

A source said that Claggett is expected to sign with St. Paul of the independent American Association within the next few days.

BRIDGEWATER — Hall of Fame hitters succeed in far fewer than half of their at-bats, but conventional baseball logic meant nothing to Freddie Bynum as he lived through a recent 18-game hitting streak.

“I felt like I was going to get a hit every time I came to the plate,” Bynum said. “I know that’s not going to happen, but that’s how good I felt. I have a lot of confidence right now.”

After taking a rare game off to recover from soreness, the hottest hitter in the Somerset Patriots’ lineup was back starting at second base Tuesday night and looking to keep it going against the Lancaster Barnstormers.

“I was getting good pitches and I wasn’t missing them,” Bynum said in describing the key to his three-week-long tear. “I was being more patient than I was early in the season.”

A closer look at the anatomy of the streak reveals that the former major-leaguer, who was hitting .178 when it began May 11, hit .375 in 77 at-bats through June 1. He had 11 multi-hit games, including a stretch of five straight, and accomplished the tricky feat of hitting in both ends of a seven-inning doubleheader just before the end.